The Middle-Class Tax

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The Middle-Class Tax
(Or, How Financial Markets Affect You)

My favorite coffee shop is a small business locally owned by “Mom & Pop”. Today, while getting my morning pick-me-up, “Pop” and I began to discuss the high cost of living. He told me that the cost of coffee beans had gone up more than 300% this year. Was there a particularly bad harvest in coffee producing nations around the world? No, the spike in prices, he said, was caused primarily by rampant speculation in the commodities market. And, since he could not raise his prices by 300% and expect to keep many customers, he and his lovely wife decided to do their best to absorb the higher costs and hope they can hang on to their business until their costs go down.

Now, the folks who are bidding up the price of coffee beans could care less about the problems of a small, but very popular, business in a little California town. They are just out to make a fast buck. The buck that they are making, however, does not employ a single American. This buck doesn’t build anything or make anything. This buck simply goes into the pocket of some hot-shot, Wall Street financier who will pay less of his income in taxes than you will for going to work every day.

Now, let’s apply the coffee bean principle to the price of gas, groceries, electricity and the like. We certainly can’t expect a large oil company to do what “pop” did, especially since big oil is helping to bid up the price of gasoline.

As the Republicans continue to defend tax cuts for the richest among us, just remember that you, and I, and every working person in this great nation are subsidizing the rich not only through the tax code but through the prices we pay.



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